>> good evening.

i am candy crowley. we are here for the second presidential debate at the town hall, sponsored -- sponsored by the commission a presidential debate. there are 82 uncommitted voters from the new york area. michael is to give the conversation direction and make sure the questions are answered. the questions are known to me and my team only. neither the commission nor the candidates have seen them. i am optimistic, so i am sure the candidates will apply to all up -- by keeping their answers concise. there will be a two-minute follow-up. the audience here has agreed to be polite and attentive. no cheering or outburst of any sort. we will set aside that agreement justice lunch -- just this once to welcome president obama and mitt romney. [applause]

>> thank you both for joining us tonight. we have a lot of folks who want to talk to you. governor romney won the coin toss. the first question will go to you. a first-time voter, jeremy, has a question. >> as a 20-year-old college student, when i graduate, i will have little chance to get employment. what can you say to reassure me, but more importantly, my parents, that i will be able to support myself after i graduate. >> thank you. i appreciate your question.

thank you to all of those who have come. thank you for your time. thank you hofstra university and chemicals -- candy crowley. thank you, mr. president, for being a part of this debate. , question is one that is being asked by college kids all over the country. i was in pennsylvania with someone who just graduated. this is a philadelphia. she said she got her degree and she cannot find a job. she has three part-time jobs. they are barely enough to pay for food and apartment. she cannot begin to pay her student loans. we have to make sure we can make it easier for kids to afford college. also, that there is a job when they get out. when i was the governor of massachusetts, you had to pass an exam to get a high school diploma. we gave you four years tuitions -- tuition free to the college of choice if you scored high.

we will have a loan program so people are able to afford school. the key thing is to make sure you get a job when you get out. what has happened over the last four years has been very hard for america's young people. i want you to get a job. i know what it takes to get this economy going. with applicant -- with half of college kids graduating this year without a job and a college-level job, that is unacceptable. you have more debt on your back. more debt, less jobs. i will change that. i know what it takes to create good jobs. i know what it takes to give you the opposite -- the opportunity you deserve. we are bringing back an economy. it will not people like the last four years. the middle class has been crushed bureaucratic, jobs have been scarce. i have a chance to bring those back. when you graduate? 2014. i presume i will be president.

i will make sure you get a job. thank you. >> your future is bright. the fact that you are making an investment in higher education is critical. not just to you but to the entire nation. the most important thing we can do is make sure we are creating jobs in this country, but not just jobs, good paying jobs. one that can support a family. what i want to do is build on the 5 million jobs we have created over the last 30 months in the private sector alone. there are a bunch of things we can do to make sure your future is bright. number one, i want to build manufacturing jobs in this country again. when governor romney says we should let detroit go bankrupt, i said we would bet on american workers and the american auto industry, and it has come surging back. i want to do that all across the country. that means we change our tax

code so we are giving incentives to countries investing in united states and creating jobs here. it also means we help them and small businesses to export all on the world. we have to make sure we have the best education system in the world. if that you are going to college is great. i want everybody to get a great education. we have worked hard to make sure student loans are available to folks like you. i want to make sure community colleges are offering slots for workers to get retrained for the jobs out there right now. number three, we have to control our own energy. not only oil, natural gas, which we have been investing in. we also have to make sure we are building the energy sources of the future. not just next year, but 10 and 20 years from now. we invest in solar, wind, biofuels. energy efficient cars. we need to reduce our deficit, in a balanced way.

let's take the money we have been spending on war over the last decade to rebuild america. roads, bridges, schools. not only will your future be bright, but america's as well. >> let me ask you for a more immediate answer. just quickly, what can you do? we are looking at the situation where 40% of the unemployed have been so for six months or more. they do not have the two years jeremy has. what about those long-term unemployed who need a job right now. >> 23 million people are struggling to find a job. a lot of them have been out of work for a long time. the president's policies have been exercised over the last four years. they have not put americans back to work. we have fewer people working today than we had when the president took office. if the unemployment rate was 7.8% when he took office, it is

7.8% now. if you calculate that, taking people who dropped out of the workforce, it would be 10.7%. we have not made the progress we need to put people back to work. i have a five-point plan that gets america 12 million new jobs in four years and a rising take- home pay. it will help jeremy get a job, across the country who are unemployed, and one thing the president said which i want to make sure we understand. my plan was to have the company in detroit go through bankruptcy like 7-eleven did, macy's, and continental airlines, and come out stronger. he keeps saying i want to take detroit bankrupt. he took chrysler bankrupt. when you say i want to take the auto industry that crap, you actually did. i think it is important to know that was a process that was necessary to get those companies

back on their feet so they could hire more people. that is what happened. >> candy, what governor romney said is not true. you wanted to take them into bankruptcy without providing them any way to stay open. we would have lost a million jobs. do not take my word for it. take the executives at gm and chrysler, some of whom are republicans. they may even support governor romney. they will tell you that would not have worked. he says he have a five-point plan. he does not. as a one-point plan. that plan is to make sure those at the top play by a different set of rules. that has been his philosophy in the private sector, as governor, and as a presidential candidate. you can make a lot of money and a lower tax rates can someone who makes a lot less.

you can ship jobs overseas and get tax breaks. you can invest in a company, a bankrupt it, lay off workers, strip pensions, and you still make money. that is exactly the philosophy we have seen in place for the last decade. that is what is squeezing middle-class families. we have fought back for four years to get out of that mess. the last thing we need to do is to go back to the very same policies that got us there. >> the next question will be for mr. president. there will be plenty of chances, governor rumsey, to go on. >> let me try to answer. >> you certainly will have a lot of time coming up. i want to move onto something bad is connected to cars. we want to get a question. >> your energy secretary has now

been on record three times stating it is not policy of his department to help lower gas prices. you agree with the secretary that this is not the job of the energy department? >> the most important thing we can do is to make sure we control our own energy. here is what i have been done since i was president. we have increased oil production to the highest levels in 16 years. natural gas production is the highest it has been in decades. we have seen increases in coal production and employment. what i have also said is we cannot just produce traditional sources of energy. we also have to look to the future. that is why we doubled fuel efficiency standards on cars. in the middle of the next decade, and the car you by, you will end up going twice as far on a gallon of gas. we doubled clean energy production like wind, solar, and

biofuels. all the things have contributed to a slowing our oil imports to the lowest levels in 16 years. i want to build on that. that means we still continue to open up new areas for drilling, we continue to make it a priority for us to go after natural gas. we have got potentially 600,000 jobs and a 100 years worth of energy right under our feet with natural gas. we can do it in environmentally sound way. we also have to continue to figure out how we have an efficient energy. that is how we are going to reduce demand. that is what is going to keep gas prices lower. governor romney will say he has and all of the above plan. his plan is to let the oil companies like the energy policies. he has got the oil and gas part, but he does not have the clean energy part. if we are only thinking about tomorrow or the next day, and

not thinking about 10 years from now, we are not going to control our own economic future. china, germany, they are making these investments. i am not going to feed those jobs of the future to those countries. i expect those new energy sources to be built right here in the united states. that will help german get a job. it will also make sure you are not paying as much money for gas. >> let's look at the present's policies as opposed to the rhetoric. we have had four years the policies being played out. the president is right in terms of the additional oil production. none of it came on federal land. oil production is down 14% this year on federal land. gas production is down 9%. the president cut in half the number of licenses and permits from a critic for drilling on federal lands and in federal waters. where did the increase come from? a lot of it came from north

dakota. the administration brought a criminal action against the people growing up there for oil. this massive new resource we have. what was the cost? a 20 -- 25 birds were killed. they brought out a bird act. i want to make sure we use our oil, coal, gas, nuclear, renewals. i believe very much in our renewable capabilities. they will be an important part of our energy mix. what we do not need is having the president keeping us from taking advantage of oil, coal, and gas. this has not been mr. oil, mr. gas, or mr. kohl. talk to people working in those industries. people grabbed my arms and said, please save my job. the head of the epa said you cannot build a coal plant. it is virtually impossible given our regulations. when the president ran for office, he said you can go ahead, but you will go bankrupt.

that is not the right course for america. but the chance -- let's take advantage of the energy resources we have as well as the ones for the future. if we do that, what i am planning, getting us energy independence, north america energy independence within eight years, you will see manufacturing jobs comeback because our energy is low cost. they are already beginning to come back because of our abundant energy. i will get america and north america energy independent. more drilling, more permits and licenses, that pipeline in from canada. how the president said no to that, i will never know. this is about bringing good jobs back for the middle class of america. that is what i will do. >> let's see if i can move you to the gist of this question. are we looking at the new normal? tomorrow morning, a lot of people will wakeup and they will find the price of gas over $4 a gallon. is it within the purview of the

government to bring those prices down, or are we looking at the new normally? -- the new normal. ? >> we are using oil more efficiently. very little of what governor romney just said is true. we have opened up public lands. we are drilling more on public lands than on the previous administration. the president -- the previous president was an oil man. natural gas was not encouraging magically. appearing magically. we are encouraging it. i hear governor romney say he is a big cold guy. when you were the governor, you stood in front of a coal plant and said, this plant kills. you took great pride in shutting it down. suddenly, you are a big champion of coal. what i have tried to do is be consistent. with respect to something like call, we made the largest investment in clean coal

technology to make sure we are producing it cleaner and smarter. same thing with oil, same thing with natural gas. our oil imports are down to the lowest levels in 20 years. oil production is up. natural gas production is up. we are also starting to build cars that are more efficient. that is creating jobs. those cars can be exported. that is the demand a round world. it will save money in your pocketbook. that is the strategy you need. that is what we will do in the next four years. >> but that is not what you have done. that is the problem. in the last four years, you cut permits and licenses on federal lands and federal waters in half. >> not true. >> by how much did you cut them on? >> we have actually produce more oil. >> how much did you cut licenses and permits on federal waters? >> here is what we did.

>> i had a question. how much did you cut them by? >> you want me to answer them. i am happy to answer the question. you added a whole bunch of oil companies who had leases on public lands they were not using. what we said was, you cannot just sit on this for 10, 20, 30 years, decide when you want to drill, when you want to produce, when it is most profitable for you. these are public lands. if you want to drill on public lands, you use it or you lose it. what we did it -- what we did was take away those leases and we are now reletting them we can make a profit. production is up. >> production of government land and oil is down. 9%. >> it is just not true. >> it is true. there is no question people recognize -- federal lands in federal waters. i was just in a coal facility.

some 1200 people lost their jobs. the right course for america is to have a true all of the above policy. i do not believe anyone believes you are a person who will be pushing for oil and gas and coal. you will get your chance in a moment. i am still speaking. i do not believe -- that was not a question. that was a statement. i do not believe the american people believe that. i will fight for oil, coal, and natural gas. approve is what the price is you are paying at the pump. if you are paying less than you paid a year or two ago, why physical clinic and the strategy is working. but you are paying more carried it is $4 a gallon. the price of electricity is up. if the present's energy policies are working, you will see the cost of energy come down. i will fight to create more energy in this company to get america energy secure. part of that is bringing in a pipeline of oil from canada,

taking advantage of the oil and coal we have, at drilling offshore in alaska, virginia, where the people want it. those things will get the energy we need. >> could you address, because we did get the gas prices here. could you address what the governor said. if your energy policy was working, the price of gasoline would not be $4 a gallon? is that true? >> think about what he said. when i took office, gasoline was $1.80. why is that? the economy was on the verge of collapse. we were about to go through the worst recession since the great depression. as a consequence, some of the same policies governor romney is now promoting. it is conceivable to bring them down, but in the policies we might be back in the same mass. what i want to do is to create an economy that is strong and at

the same time produce energy. with respect to this pipeline governor romney keeps talking about, we have built in of pipelines to wrap around the entire earth once. i am all for pipelines. i am all for oil pressure. what i am not for its us ignoring the other half of the equation. on wind energy, when governor romney says these are imaginary jobs. you have thousands of people right now in a lot -- in iowa, colorado, who are working, creating wind power, with good paying manufacturing jobs. the republican senator in iowa is all for it, providing tax cuts to help work. governor romney says, i am opposed. i would get rid of it. that is not an energy strategy for the future. wheat -- we need to win that future capot. >> i get the last question. >> in a follow-up.

does not work like that. i will give you a chance. i promise you. the next question is for you. >> i would have a policy of stopping wind jobs in iowa. they are not phantom jobs. they are real jobs. i appreciate winds jobs in iowa and across our country. i appreciate the jobs in coal, oil, gas. i will make sure we take advantage of our energy resources. we will get through a very aggressive energy policy, 3.5 million more jobs in this country. >> we will move you along. move the ball along to taxes. this question is for the governor. >> governor romney. you have stated that if you are all elected president, you would plan to reduce the tax rate for

oil to tax brackets and that you would work with congress to eliminate some deductions to make up for the loss of revenue. concerning the various deductions, the mortgage deduction, the charitable deduction, a child tax credit, and also the -- i forgot the other credit. [laughter] >> you are doing great. >> the education credits, which are important to me. i have children in college. what would your position on those things, which are important for the middle class? >> thank you. you are absolutely right about part of that. i want to bring the rates down. i want to simplify the tax code. i want to get middle income taxpayers to have lower taxes. the reason i want middle income taxpayers to have lower taxes is because middle income taxpayers have been buried over the past behafour years.

you have seen in comes though -- go down, even as gasoline prices have gone up. health insurance. -- health insurance premiums up. food prices, utility prices up. the middle income families in america have been crushed. i want to get relief to middle income families. that is part one. how about deductions? i will bring rates down across the board for everybody. i will limit deductions and exemptions and credits, particularly for people at the high end. i will not have those people pay less than they are paying now. the top 5% of taxpayers will continue to pay 60% of the income-tax the nation >>. that will stay the same. middle income people get a tax break. in terms of a grinning down deductions, one way would be to say everybody gets $25,000 of deductions and credits. you can decide which ones to

use. carey, child tax credit, you can use those to fill in that pocket of deductions. your rate comes down. the burden also comes down for one more reason. every middle income taxpayer no longer will pay any tax on interest, dividends, or capital gains. no tax on your savings. that makes life a lot easier. if you are getting interest from a bank, a statement from a mutual fund, any kind of investment you have. you do not have to worry about filing taxes. there will be no taxes. for anybody to hundred thousand dollars a year and less. on your interest, dividends, and tap -- and capital gains. why? on the last four years, the middle class has been buried. i want to help those people. i will not under any circumstances reduce the share that is being paid by the highest income taxpayers. i will not, under any

circumstances, increase taxes on middle class. the present's spending, borrowing, will cost this nation to have to raise taxes on the american people, not just on the high end. a recent study has on the people in the middle class will have $4,000 a year higher taxes as a result of spending and borrowing of this administration. i will not let that happen. i will get us on track to a balanced budget. it will help those families and create incentives to help growing jobs. >> thank you. >> my philosophy on taxes has been simple. that is i want to give middle- class families and folks who are striving to get into the middle class some relief. they have been hit hard over the last decade. over the last 20 years. four years ago, i stood on a states like this one. i said i would cut taxes for middle-class families.

that is what i have done. by $3,600. i said i would cut taxes for small businesses, the drivers and engines of growth. we have cut them 18 times. i want to continue those tax cuts for middle-class families and for small businesses. what i have also said is if we are serious about reducing the deficit, if this is genuinely a moral obligation to the next generation, in addition to top spending cuts, we also have to make sure the wealthy do a little bit more. what i have said is your first $250,000 worth of income, no change. 98% of american families, 97% of small businesses, they will not see a tax increase. i am ready to sign a bill right now. it is not happening because governor romney's allies in congress have helped -- held the 98% hostage because they

want tax rates for the 92%. what i have said is or above to madrid to thousand dollars, we can go back to the tax rates we had when bill clinton was present. we created 23 million jobs. that is part of what took us from deficits to a surplus. it will be good for our economy and job creation. governor romney has a different philosophy. he was on 60 minutes just two weeks ago he was asking, is it fair for somebody like you, making $20 million a year, to pay a lower tax rate and interest on a bus driver, someone making $50,000 a year. he said i think that is fair. he said, i think that is what grows the economy. i fundamentally disagree with that. i think what grows the economy is when you get that tax credit we put in place for your kids going to college. i think that runs the economy. i think what was the economy is when we make sure small businesses are getting a tax

credit for hiring veterans. that grows our economy. we have a different theory. when governor romney stands here, after a year of campaigning, when, during a republican primary, he stood on stage and said, i will get tax cuts, not tax rate cuts, tax cuts, to everybody, including the top 1%, you should believe him. that has been his history. that is exactly the kind of top- down economics that will not work if we want a strong middle class and an economy that is thriving for everybody. >> i am sure you have a reply. [laughter] you are right -- >> you are right. the top 5% will continue to pay 60%, as they do today. i am not looking to cut taxes for wealthy people. i am looking to cut taxes for middle income people. why do i want to bring rates down and lower and exemptions and deductions? if you bring rates down, it

makes it easier for small business to keep more of their capital and hire people. for me, this is about jobs. i want to get america's economy going again. 54% of america's workers work in businesses that are taxed as individuals. when you bring those rates down, those small businesses are able to keep more money and hire more people for me, i look at what has happened in the last four years and say, this has been a disappointment. we can do better than the spirit we do not have to settle -- we can do better than this. we do not have to settle. there are 3.5 million more women living in poverty today than when the president took office. we do not have to live like -- live like this. my five-point plan does it. opening up more trade, particularly in latin america. cracking down on china when they cheat.

getting a balanced budget, it's in our training programs, and championing small business. i want to help small businesses grow and thrive. i know how to make that happen. i spent my life in the private sector. i know why jobs come and go. they are going now because of the policies of this demonstration. >> let me ask the press and -- the president about what you said. the governor says he will not allow the top 5% to have a tax cut. it will all even out. what he wants to do is give that tax cut to the middle class. settled? >> no. it is not settled. the cost of lowering rates for everybody across the board, 20%, along with what he also wants to do and in terms of eliminating the state tax, along with what he wants to do and formed -- in terms of corporate changes in the tax code, it costs about $5

trillion. he also wants to spend $2 trillion on additional military programs, even though they are not asking for it. that is $7 trillion. he also wants to continue to which it have the bush cut -- the bush tax cuts for millionaires. as $8 trillion. what he says is he will make sure it does not add to the deficit, and he will cut middle- class taxes. when he is asked, how will you do it? which deductions, which loopholes, he cannot tell you. the fact that he only have to pay 14% on his taxes, when a lot of you are paying much higher, he is already taking that off the board. capital gains will continue to be at a low rate. we will not get money that way. we have not heard from the governor any specifics beyond, big bird and eliminating fun and -- funding for planned

parenthood, in terms of how he pays for that. governor romney was a very successful investor. if somebody came to you, governor, with a plan that says, i want to spend eight trillion dollars -- $8 trillion, and we will pay for it, but we cannot tell you until after the election how we will do it, you would not have taken such a sketch the deal. neither should you, the american people. the math does not add up. what is at stake here is one of two things. either, candy, this blows up the deficit. keep in mind, this is just to pay for the additional spending he is talking about. that is before we even get to the deficit we already have. or, alternatively, it has to be paid for not only by closing deductions for wealthy individuals, which will pay for about 4% reduction in tax rates, you will be paying for it. you will lose deductions.

you cannot buy the sales pitch that nobody who has looked at it that is serious actually believes it adds up. >> before we get into a massive array of who says what, if it should not add up, if, somehow, when you get in there, there is not enough tax revenue coming in, if somehow the numbers do not add up, would you be willing to look again at a 20%? >> of course they add up. i was somebody who ran businesses for 25 years. i balanced the budget. i ran the olympics. i balance the budget. i ran the states of, massachusetts and balanced -- the state of massachusetts. how about $4 trillion up deficits over the last four years? $5 trillion? that is that that does not add up. we have a president talking about someone pauses plan in a

way that is completely foreign to what my real plan is. then we have his own record. we have four consecutive years of when he said he was running for office and would cut the deficit in half. he has doubled it. we have gone from $10 trillion of national debt to $16 trillion of national debt. if the president was reelected, we will go to almost $20 million -- $20 trillion of national debt and. i have done this my entire life. it is not a $5 trillion cut. i am offsetting some of the reduction with hosing down some of the reductions. >> i got to, i need to have -- i understand both of you. i will get run out of town -- >> i just described you exactly, mr. president. numbers people can put and i can put their reductions and credit

-- >> let me -- mr. president, the next question. >> in what ways do you intend to rectify the inequalities in the workplace, specifically regarding females making only 70% of what their male counterparts -- counterparts earn. >> a great question. i was raised by a single mom. she had to put herself through school while looking after two kids. she worked hard every day and made a lot of sacrifices to make sure we got everything we needed. my grandmother, she started off as a secretary in a bank. she never got a college education. she was smart as a whip. she worked for went to be the vice president of a local bank. she hit the glass ceiling. she trained people who would end

up becoming her boss during the course of her career. she did not complain. that is not what you did in that generation. this is one of the reasons why the first bill i signed was named after this amazing woman who had been doing, the same job as a man for years, found out she was getting paid less, and the supreme court said she should have found out about it earlier. she had no way of finding out about it. we fixed that. that is an example of the kind of advocacy we need because women are increasingly the breadwinners in the family. this is not just a woman's issue. a family issue, a middle-class issue. that is what you have to fight for it. it also means we have to make sure young people like yourself

are able to afford a college education. governor romney talked about making pell grants, other education acceptable for young people. the truth of the matter is that is exactly what we have done. we expanded pell grants for millions of people, including millions of young women. we did it by taking $60 billion that was going to banks and lenders, as middlemen for the student loans program, and we said, let's cut out the middleman. let's give the money directly to the students. we have seen millions of young people be able to afford college as a consequence. that will make sure young women will be able to compete. we have to enforce the laws, which is what we are doing. we also have to make sure that in every walk of life, we do not tolerate discrimination. that has been one of the hallmarks of my administration. i will continue to push on this issue for the next four years. >> governor ought -- governor romney.

>> an important topic. i learned a great deal about it. particularly when i was serving as governor. i had the chance to pull the lever is a pull together a cabinet colleagues a a chance to pull together a cabinet. they were all men. they said these are the people who have the qualifications. i said, cannot find women who are also qualify? we took an effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that would be qualified to become members of our cabinet. i went to a number of women's groups to find folks. i was proud of the fact that after i stacked my cabinet and my senior staff, there was a survey of all 50 states and it was concluded my had more women in senior leadership positions than any in the state of america. one of the reasons i was able to get some many good women to be part of that team was because of

our recruiting africana -- recruiting effort. my chief of staff had two kids who were still of -- still in school prayer inquir. he said, have a flexible schedule its rigid schedules to you can work retake flexible schedule. -- flexible schedule. women have lost 5000 jobs. we are still down 80,000 jobs. i mentioned 3.5 million women more now in poverty than four years ago. what we can do to help young women is to have a strong economy so strong that employers are looking to find good employees and bring them into

the workforce and adapting to a flexible work schedule that gives women the opportunities they would otherwise not have been able to afford. this is what i have done. it is what i look forward to doing. i know what it takes to make an economy work. i know what and work -- a working economy looks like. an economy with 7.8% employment is not a strong economic. an economy that has 23 million people looking for work is not a strong economy. an economy with 50% of its graduating from college that cannot find a job or a college- level caught -- college-level job, that is not what we have to have. i will help women in america get a stronger economy. >> i want to point out that when ronnie's campaign was asked about, -- governor run the's campaign was asked about, he said he will get back to you.

there are other issues that have a bearing on how women succeed in the workplace. their healthcare. a major difference in this campaign is that governor romney feels comfortable having politicians in washington decide the health care choices women are making. i think that is a mistake. in my health care bill, i said insurance companies the to provide contraceptive coverage. to everybody who was insured. this was not just a health issue. it is an economic issue. it makes a difference. this is money out of that family's pockets. governor romney not only opposes it, he suggested that employers should be able to make the decision as to whether or not a woman gets contraception through our insurance coverage. that is not the kind of advocacy that when the need.

when governor romney says we should eliminate funding for planned parenthood, there are millions of women all across the country who rely on planned parenthood for mammograms, server -- cervical cancer screenings, that is a pocketbook issue for women and families all across the country. it makes a difference in terms of how well and effectively when and are able to work. when we talk about child care, and the credits that were provided, that makes a difference in terms of whether they can go out there and earned and living -- and earn a living. these are family issues, economic issues. one of the things that makes us grow as an economy is when everybody participates and women are given the same fair deal as men are. i have two daughters and i want to make sure they have the same opportunities that anybody's

sons have. that is part of what i am fighting for. >> i want to move us along to susan, who has a question. governor, it is for you. >> governor romney, i am an undecided voter because i am disappointed with the lack of progress i have seen in the last four years. however, i do attribute much of america's economic and international problem to the failings and missteps of the bush administration. since both you and president bush a republican, i fear a return to the policies of those years, should you win this election. what is the biggest difference between you and george w. bush and how to differentiate yourself from george w. bush? >> thank you. i appreciate your question.

i think i was supposed to get that last question. >> i do not think so. the time the -- the timekeeper's are working. >> this is the last part for the two of you to talk. use this two minutes any way you would like to. the question is on the floor. >> i do not believe bureaucrats in washington to tell somebody they can you conjure pectins or not -- use contraceptions or not. every woman in america should have access carried the president's state of my policy is totally wrong. president bush and i are different people. these are different times. my five. plan is so different than what he would have done. we can get all of the energy we need in north america without having to go to the arabs or anyone else. that was not true in his time. my policy starts with a very

robust policy to get all of that energy in north america secure. number two, trade. i will crack down on china. president bush did not. i will dramatically expand trade in latin -- trade in latin america. i want to add more free trade agreement so we have more trade. number 3. i will get us to a balanced budget. president bush did not. present obama was right. he said that was outrageous to have deficits as high as half a trillion dollars under the bush years. he was right. then he put in place that is as twice that size for every one of its four years. and is forecast for the next four years is more deficits almost at large. -- that large. the last one is championing a small business. we have been focused on big business is too long. i understand how hard it is to a small business.

i want to keep their taxes down on small business. i want regulators to see their job as encouraging small enterprise, not crushing it. the thing i find most troubling about obamacare, it is a long list, but one of the things as that when you go out and talk to small businesses and ask them what they think about it, they tell you it keeps them from hiring more people. my priority is jobs. president bush had a very different path for a different time. my path is designed in getting small businesses to grow and hire people. >> thank you. mr. president? >> it is important to tell you we did not come in -- we came in when we -- the weekend in during tough times. we have been digging our way out of policies that were misplaced and focus on the top doing very

well and middle-class not doing well. we have seen 31 consecutive months of job growth. 5.2 million jobs created. the plans i talked about will create even more. when governor romney says he has a very defeat -- very different economic plan, the center of this plan are tax cuts. that is what took us from surplus to deficit. when he talks about getting tough on china, keep in mind that governor romney invested in companies that were pioneers of outsourcing to china. he is currently investing in countries, companies that are building surveillance equipment for china to spy on its own. you are the last person who will get tough on china. what we have done when it comes to trade is not only signed free-trade deals to open up new markets, but we have set up a

task force for trade that goes after anybody who is taking advantage of american workers or businesses and not creating a level playing field. we brought twice as many cases against unfair trade practices than the previous administration. we have won every single one. when i said we have to make sure china is not flooding our domestic market with cheap tires, governor romney said i was being -- that it would not be helpful to american workers. we saved 1000 jobs. that is the kind of tough trade actions that are required. the last point i want to make is this. weree are some things t governor romney differs from george bush. he did not propose turning medicare into a voucher. george bush embraced comprehensive immigrant reform. he did not call for self deportation. george bush never suggested we

eliminate funding for planned parenthood. there are differences between governor romney and george bush. they are not on economic policy. in some ways, he has gone to a more extreme place when it comes to social policy. i think that is a mistake. that is not how we will move our economy forward. >> the next question is in the same wheelhouse. you will be able to respond. the president gets this question. i want to call on michael. >> mr. president, i voted for you in 2008. what have you done or accomplished to earn my vote in 2012? i am not as optimistic as i was. most things i need for everyday living are very expensive. >> we have gone through a tough four years. there is no doubt. four years ago, i told the american people and i told you i would cut taxes for middle-class families and i did.

i told you i would cut taxes for small businesses and i have. i said i would end the war in iraq, and i did. i said we would refocus attention on 9/11. we have gone after al qaeda's leadership like never before. osama bin laden is dead. i said we would put in place health care reform to make sure that insurance companies cannot jerk you are around. if you do not have it, you have a chance to get affordable insurance. i have. i committed that i would rein in the excesses of wall street. we have had the toughest reform since the 1930's. we created 5 million jobs. we went from 800,000 jobs being lost and we cut -- we are making progress. we saved an auto industry on the brink of collapse. does that mean you are not struggling? absolutely not. a lot of us are. that is why the plan i put forward for manufacturing and education and reducing our

deficit in a sensible way, using the savings from ending wars to rebuild america and putting people back to work, making sure we are controlling our own energy, but the energy of future, too. all those things will make a difference. the commitments i have made i have kept. those i have not been able to keep, it is not for lack of trying. we will get it done -- done in a second term. you should pay attention to this campaign. governor romney has made some commitments. i suspect he will keep those. when members of the republican congress say we will sign a no tax pledge so we don't ask a dime for millionaires and billionaires to reduce our deficit so we can still invest in education and help kids go to college, he said, me, too. when they said they would cut planned parenthood funding, he

said, me, too. when he said he would repeal obamacare despite the fact is the same health care plan he passed in massachusetts and it is working well, he said, me, too. that is not the kind of leadership you need but you can expect he will keep those promises. the choice is, whose promises are more likely to help you in your life to make sure your kids can go to college, to make sure you are getting a good-paying job. >> thank you. governor? >> i think you know. the last four years are not as good as the president has described. i can tell you that if you were electing a president obama, you know what you will get. a repeat of the last four years. we cannot afford another four more years like the last. we have unemployment at 5.4%.

the difference between where it is and 5.4% is 9 million americans without work. i was not the one who said 5.4%. it was the present's plan that did not get there. he said he would put forward a plan to reform medicare and social security. he pointed out they are on the road to bankruptcy. he would get that done. he has not made a proposal. on either one. he said in his first year he would put out an immigration plan that would deal with our immigration challenges. he did not even file it. this is the president who has not been able to do what he said he would do. he said he would cut in half the deficit. he has not done that, either. the double that. he said middle income families would have a reduction in their health-care insurance premiums by 2005 and to dollars a year by now. it has gone up by that. if obamacare is passed or

implemented, it has already been passed, it will be another 2500 up top. the middle class is getting crushed under the policies of a president who has not understood what it takes to get the economy working again. he keeps saying, i have created 5 million jobs. that is after losing 5 million jobs. the entire record is such that the unemployment has not been reduced in this country. the unemployment, the number of people still looking for work is 23 million americans. there are more people in poverty, one in six people in poverty have food stamps. when he took office, 32 million were on food stamps. today, 47 million people. how about the growth of the economy? it is growing more slowly this year than last year? . and more slowly last year than a year before. the president wants to do well. the policies he put in place, obamacare, dog-frank, his tax policies, kahanthese policies he

not let the economy take off like it could have. an example of one that works better? in the reagan recession, hit 10.yment ticke present's iacocca, there were twice as many jobs. 5 million jobs as not even keep up with population growth. the unemployment rate seems lower today because of all the people who have dropped out of the workforce. the president has tried. his policies have not worked. he is great as a speaker, and describing his plans and vision. that is wonderful. but we do not have a record to look at what we have a record to look at and he has not been able to cut the deficit. to get us the rising incomes we need. incomes are down.

23 million americans out of work. that is what this election is about. it is about who can get the middle class in this country a bright and prosperous future and ensure our kids the kind of hope and optimism they deserve. >> i want to move you along. not go away. we will have plenty of time to respond. i want to bring in a different subject. i will be right back with you, mr. president. a question for you about a topic we have not heard, governor monday. vaughan -- governor romney. are you doing? what are your plans in dealing with emigrant's without their green cards who are currently living here as productive members of society. >> thank you? . let me step back and tell you what i'd like to do with our

immigration policy and include an answer to question. first of all, this is a nation of immigrants. we welcome people coming into this country as immigrants. my dad was born in mexico of american parents. we welcome legal immigrants into our country. i want our legal system to work better. i want it to be streamlined. i do not think a lawyer should be hired to figure out how to get people in this country legally. i also think we should schipske visas to people who graduate with skills we need. people run a world apart -- with degrees in science and math, get a green card cable to their diploma. we should make sure our legal system works. we have to stop illegal immigration. there are millions of people waiting in line to get here legally. those who come illegally take their place. what i will do is put in place and employment verification

system and make sure employers who hire people who have come here illegally are sanctioned for doing so. i will not put in place magnets for people coming here illegally. i would not give drivers licenses to those who have come here illegally, as the president would. the kids of those who came here illegally, they should and military service, for instance is, one way they would have that pathway to be a permanent resident. when the president ran for office, he said he would put in place, in the first year, a piece of legislation, he would file a bill in first year, to reform the immigration system, protect legal immigration, stop illegal immigration. he didn't do it. he had a democrat house, democrat senate, super majority in both houses. why did he fail to even promote legislation that would have provided an answer for those that want to come here legally and for those that are here illegally today. that's a question i think the president will have a chance to

answer right now. >> i look forward to it. lorena? lorain. we are a nation of immigrants. we are just a few miles away from ellis island. we all understand what this country has become because talent from all around the world wants to come here. people are willing to take risks. people want to build on their dreams and make sure their kids have even bigger dream than they have. the but we are also a nation of laws so what i've said is we need to fix a broken immigration system and i've done everything that i can on my own and sought cooperation from congress to make sure that we fix the system. first thing we did was to streamline the legal immigration system, to reduce the backlog, make it easier, simpler and cheaper for people who are waiting in line, obeying the law to, make sure they can come to

our country and that's good for our economic growth. they'll start new businesses, they'll make things happen to create jobs here in the united states. number two, we do have to deal with our border so we put more border patrol on than any time in history and the flow of undocumented workers across the border is lower than it's been in 40 years. what i've also said is, if we are going to go after folks who are here illegally, we should do it smartly and go after folks who are criminals, gang-bangers, people who are hurting the community -- not after students, not after folks who are here just because they're trying to figure out how to feed their families, and that's what eve done. what i've also said is for young people who come here, brought here oftentimes by their parents, have gone to school here, pledged allegiance to the flag, think of this as their country, understand themselves as americans, in every way except having papers, we should make sure we give them a pathway

to citizenship and that's what i've done administratively. governor romney just said he wants to help those young people, too, but during the republican primary he said i will veto the dream act that would allow these young people to have access. his main strategy during the republican primary was to say we are going to encourage self deportation, making life so miserable on folks that they'll leave. he called the arizona law a model for the nation, part of the arizona law said that law officers could stop folks because they suspected maybe they looked like they might be undocumented workers, and check their papers, and you know what, if my daughter or yours looks to somebody like they're not a citizen, i don't want -- i don't want to empower somebody like that. so, we can fix the system in a

comprehensive way and when governor romney says, the challenge is, well, obama didn't try. that's not true. i sat down with democrats and republicans at the beginning of my term and i said, let's fix this system, including senators previously who supported it on the republican side. but it's very hard for republicans in congress to support comprehensive immigration reform if their standard bearer has said that this is not something i'm interested in supporting. >> let me go the the governor in here, mr. president. let's speak to, if you could, governor, the idea of self deportation. >> let me go back and speak to points the president made and let's get them correct. i did not say that the arizona was a model for the nation in that aspect. i said that the e-verify portion of the arizona law, which is -- which is the portion of the law which says the employers can determine whether someone is here legally or illegally was a

model for the nation. that was number one. number two, i asked the president a question, why, when you said you'd file legislation in your first year didn't you do it and you didn't answer. he doesn't answer that question. he said the standard bearer wasn't for it. i'm glad you thought i was the standard bearer four years ago but i wasn't. four years ago, you said in your first year you would file legislation. in his first year, i was just licking my wounds from having been beaten by john mccain. i was not the standard bearer. my view is that this president should have honored his promise to do as he said. let me mention one other thing and that is self deportation says let people make their own choice. what i was saying is we're not going to round up 12 million people, undocumented illegals and take them out of the nation. instead let people make their own choice and if they find they can't get the benefits here they want and can't find the job they want, they'll make a decision to go a place where they have

better opportunities but i'm not in favor of rounding up people and taking them out of this country. i am in favor, as the president has said and i agree with him, which is that if people committed crimes, we got to get them out of this country. let me mention something else the president said, it was a moment ago, and i didn't get a chance to, when he was describing chinese investments and so forth. >> candy, hold on a second. at some point -- >> i'm sorry -- >> mr. president. >> governor romney, i'm -- >> governor romney, if you could make it short. see all these people, they've been waiting for you. >> any investments i have over the last eight years have been managed by a blind trust and i understand they do include investments outside the united states including in chinese companies. mr. president, have you looked at your pension? have you looked at your pension? >> i've got say. >> mr. president, have you looked at your pension? >> it's not as big as yours so it doesn't take as long.

i don't check it that afternoon. >> look at your pension, you also have investments in chinese companies. you also have investments outside the united states. >> we are off topic here, governor romney. >> we are a little off topic here. i thought we were talking about immigration. i want to make sure. >> in a could have you sit down governor romney, thank you. >> i do want to make sure we understand something. governor romney said he wasn't referring to arizona as a model for the nation, his top adviser on major leagues immigration is the guy who designed the law, the entirety of it, not e-verify, that's his policy, and it won't help us grow. when we think about immigration, we have to understand there are folks all around the world who still see america as the land of promise and they provide us energy and they provide us innovation, and they start companies like intel and google and we want to encourage that.

now, we've got to make sure we do it in a smart way, a comprehensive way, and we make the legal system better. but when we make this into a divisive political issue and when we don't have bipartisan support -- i can deliver, governor, a whole bunch of democrats to get comprehensive immigration reform done and we can't -- we have not seen republicans serious about this issue at all and it's time for them to get serious on it. >> don't go away, because i want you to talk to carey lotka who wants to switch the topic for us. >> i'm here. ok, hi, carey. >> good evening, mr. president. >> what's your name? >> carey. >> great to see you. >> this question comes from a brain trust of my friends at global telecom supply in minneola yesterday. we were sitting around talking about libya and were reading and became aware of reports that the

state department refused extra security for our embassy in benghazi, libya, prior to the attacks that killed four americans. who was it that denied enhanced security and why? >> let me first of all talk about our diplomats, because they serve all around the world. and do an incredible job in a very dangerous situation. and these aren't just representatives of the united states. they're my representatives. i send them there oftentimes into harm's way. i know these folks and i know their families. so nobody's more concerned about their safety and security than i am. so as soon as we found out that the benghazi consulate was being overrun, i was on the phone with my national security team and i gave them instructions, number one, beef up security procedures just in libya but every consulate in the region.

number two, investigate exactly what happened, regardless of where the facts lead us, to make sure that folks are held accountable and it doesn't happen again. and number three, we are going to find out who did this and we are going to hunt them down because one of the things that i've said throughout my presidency is, when folks mess with americans, we go after them. now, governor romney had a very different response. while we were still dealing with our diplomats being threatened, governor romney put out a press release trying to make political points, and that's not how a commander-in-chief operates. you don't turn national security into a political issue, certainly not right when it's happening, and people -- not everybody agrees with some of the decisions i've made but when it comes to our national security, i mean what i say. i said i'd end the war in iraq and i did.

i said that we'd go after al qaeda and bin laden, we have. i said we'd transition out of afghanistan and start making sure afghans are responsible for their own security, that's what i'm doing. when it comes to this issue, when i say we are going to find out exactly what happened, everybody will be held accountable, and i am ultimately responsible for what's taking place there because these are my folks and i'm the one who has to greet those coffins when they come home, you know that i mean what i say. >> mr. president, i have to move us along. governor? >> thank you, carey, for your question. it's an important one, and i think the president just said correctly that the buck does stop at his desk and he takes responsibility for that -- the failure in providing those security resources and those terrible things may well happen from time to time. i feel very deeply sympathetic

for the families of those who lost loved ones and today there's a memorial service for one of those that was lost in that tragedy, we think of their families und care for them deeply. there were other issues associated with this tragedy. there were many day that is passed before we knew whether was a spontaneous demonstration or whether it was a terrorist attack and there was no demonstration involved. it was a terrorist attack and it took a long time for that to be told to the american people. whether that was some misleading or instead whether we didn't know what happened, you have to ask yourself why didn't we know five days later when the ambassador to the united nations went on tv to say this was a demonstration, how could we have not known, but what i find more troubling on this, on the day following the assassination of the united states ambassador, the first time that's happened since 1979, when we have four americans killed there, when apparently we didn't know what happened, that the president, the day after that happened,

flies to las vegas for political fundraiser and the next day to colorado for another political event. i think these actions taken by a president and a leader have symbolic significance and perhaps even material significance in that you hope during that time we could call in the people who were actually eyewitnesses. we've read their accounts about what happened. it was very clear this was not a demonstration. this was an attack by terrorists and this calls into question the president's whole policy in the middle east. look what's happening in syria, in egypt. now in libya. consider the distance between ourselves and israel. the president said he was going to put daylight between us and israel. we have iran four years closer to a nuclear bomb. syria's not just the tragedy of 30,000 civilians killed by a military but also a strategically significant player for america. the president's policies

throughout the middle east began with an apology tour and pursue a strategy of leading from behind and this strategy is unraveling before our very eyes. >> before we are closing in, i want to get a lot of people in and ask you something, mr. president, and have the governor quickly -- your secretary of state, as i'm sure you know, has said that she takes full responsibility for the attack on the diplomatic mission in benghazi. does the buck stop with your secretary of state as far as what went on here? >> no. secretary clinton has done an extraordinary job but she works for me. i'm the president and i'm always responsible and that's why nobody's more interested in finding out exactly what happened than i did. the day after the attack, governor, i stood in the rose garden and i told the american people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened, that this was an act of terror and i also that said we are going to hunt down those

who committed this crime. and then a few days later i was there greeting the caskets coming into andrews air force base and grieving with the families and the suggestion that anybody in my team, whether the secretary of state or u.n. ambassador -- anybody on my team -- would play politics or mislead when we've lost four of our own, governor, is offensive. that's not what we do. that's not what i do as president, that's not what i do as commander-in-chief. >> governor, if you want to reply quickly, please. >> i think it's interesting, the president said something which is on the day after the attack he went in the rose gordon -- garden and said this was an act of terror. >> that's what i said.

>> you said it was an act of terror, it was not a spontaneous demonstration, is that what you're saying? >> please proceed, governor. >> i want to make sure we get that for the record because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in benghazi an act of terror. >> he did, in fact, sir. let me call it an act of terror. he did call it an act of terror. it did, as well, take two weeks or so for the whole idea of their being a riot out there about this tape to come out. >> the administration indicated this was a reaction to a video and was a spontaneous reaction. it took them a long time for them to say this was a terrorist act by a terrorist group and to suggest -- am i incorrect in that regard -- on sunday, your secretary -- excuse me -- the ambassador to the united nations went on a sunday television show

and spoke about how this was a spontaneous -- >> i'm happier to have a conversation about -- >> i want to move you along but people can go to the transcripts. >> folks want a chance to have questions answered. >> what i want to do, mr. president, i want to introduce you to nina gonzales who brought up a question we hear a lot both over the internet and from this crowd. >> president obama, during the democratic national convention in 2008 you stated you wanted to keep a.k.47's out of the hands of criminals. what has your administration done or plan to do to limit the availability of assault weapons? >> we're a nation that believes in the second amendment and i believe in the second amendment. we've got a long tradition of hunting and sports men and people who want to make sure they can protect themselves.

but there have been too many instances during the course of my presidency where i've had to comfort families who've lost somebody, most recently out in aurora. just a couple of weeks ago, probably about a month, i saw a mother who i had met at the bedside of her son who had been shot in that theater and her son had been shot through the head and we spent some time and we said a prayer and remarkably, about two months later, this young man and his mom showed up and he looked unbelievable, good as new, but there were a lot of families who didn't have that good fortunate and whose sons or daughters or husbands didn't survive. so my belief is that, a, we have to enforce the laws we've

already got, make sure we are keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, those who are mentally ill. we've done a much better job in terms of background checks but we've got more to do when it comes to enforcement but i also share your belief that weapons that were designed for soldiers in war theaters don't belong on our streets and so what i'm trying to do is to get a broader conversation about how do we reduce the violence generally. part of it is seeing if we can get an assault weapons ban reintroduced but part of it is looking at other sources of the violence because frank he in my home town of chicago there's an awful lot of violence and they're using cheap handguns so what can we do to intervene to make sure young people have opportunity, that our schools are working, that, if there's violence on the streets, working with faith groups and law enforcement, we can catch it

before it gets out of control si want is a comprehensive strategy, part of it is seeing if we can get automatic weapons that kill folks in amazing numbers out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill but part of it is also going deeper and seeing if we can get into these communities and making sure we catch violent impulses before they occur. >> governor romney, the question is about assault weapons, a.k.-47's. >> i'm not in favor of new pieces of legislation on guns and taking guns away and making certain guns illegal. course don't want to have automatic weapons and that's already illegal in this country, to have automatic weapons. what i believe we have to do as the president mentioned towards the end of his remarks there which is to make enormous efforts to enforce the gun laws that we have and to change the culture of violence that we have and you ask how are we going to do that? there are a number of things. he mentioned good schools.

i totally agree. we were able to drive our schools in my state to be number one in the nation and i believe if we give people a good education, we have less violence but parents, we need moms and dads helping raise kids wherever possible, the benefit of having two parents in the home and that's not always possible. a lot of great single moms, single dads, but, gosh, to tell our kids that before they have babies they ought to think about getting married to someone, that's a great idea because as a two-parent family, the prospect of living in poverty goes down dramatically, the opportunities that the child will be able to achieve increase dramatically so we can make changes in the way our culture works to help bring people away from violence and give them opportunity and bring them in the american system. the greatest failure we've had with regards to gun violence in some respects is what is known as fast and furious which was a program under this administration and how it worked

exactly i think we don't know where thousands of automatic and a.k.-47 type weapons were given to people that ultimately gave them to drug lords. they used those weapons against their own citizens and killed americans with them and this was a program of the government. what purpose it was put in place, i can't imagine, but it's one of the great tragedies related to violence in our society which has occurred during this administration which i think the american people like to understand fully. it's been investigated to a degree but the administration has -- has carried out executive privilege to prevent all the information from coming out. i'd like to understand who it that did this, what the idea was behind it, why it led to the violence. thousands of guns going to mexican drug lords. >> governor, if i could, the question was about assault weapons that once were banned and are no longer banned. i know that you signed an

assault weapons ban when you were in massachusetts. obviously, with this question, you no longer do support that. why is that given the violence we see sometimes with mass killings, why is it that you've changed your mind? >> candy, actually, in my state, anti-gunun folks and folks came together and put together a piece of legislation and it's referred to as an assault weapon ban but at the signing of the bill both the pro-gun and anti-gun people came together because it provided opportunities for both that both wanted. there were hunting opportunity that hadn't previously been available and so forth so it was a mutually agreed upon piece of legislation. that's what we need more of, candy. what we have right now in washington is a place that's gridlocked. >> if you could get people to agree to it, you'd be for it? >> we haven't had the leadership in washington to work in a bipartisan basis. i was able to do that in my state and bring these two together. >> mr. president? >> first of all, i think

governor romney was for an assault weapons ban before he was against it and he said that the reason he changed his mind was, in part, because he was seeking the endorsement of the national rifle association so that's on the record. but i think that one area we agree on is the importance of parents and the importance of schools because i do believe that if our young people have opportunity, then they're less likely to engage in these kind of violent acts. we are not going to eliminate everybody who is mentally disturbed and we've got to make sure they don't get weapons but we can make a difference in terms of ensuring that every young person in america regardless of where they come from, what they look like, have a chance to succeed and, candy, we haven't had a chance to talk about education much, but i think it is very important to understand that the reforms we put in place working with 46 governors around the country, are seeing schools that are some

of the ones that are the toughest for kids starting to succeed. we are starting to see gains in math and science. comes to community colleges, we are setting up programs including with nassau community college to retrain workers, including young people may have dropped out of school but are now getting another chance -- training them for the jobs that exist right now and in fact employers are looking for skilled workers so are matching them up, giving them access to higher education. as i said, we have made sure that millions of young people are able to get education that they weren't able to get before. >> mr. president, i have to move you along here. you said you wanted to get to the questions and we need to do it here. >> just one second because this is important. this is part of the choice in this election. when governor romney was asked whether teachers, hiring more teachers was important to growing our economy, governor romney said that doesn't grow

our economy. >> the question, mr. president, was guns here, so i need to move us along. >> i understand. >> the question was guns. >> but this will make a difference in terms of whether or not we can move this economy forward for these young people and reduce our violence. >> i understand. thank you so much. i want to ask carol goldberg to stand up because she gets to a question that both these men have been passionate about, for governor romney. >> the outsourcing of american jobs overseas has taken a toll on our economy. what plans do you have to put back and keep jobs here in the united states. >> boy, great question, and important question, because you're absolutely right, the place where we've seen manufacturing go has been china. china is now the largest manufacturer in the world. used to be the united states of america. a lot of good people have lost jobs. a half of million manufacturing jobs have been lost in the last four years. that's total over the last four years. one of the reasons for that is that people think it's more attractive in some cases to go than to stay here.

we have made it less attractive for enterprises to stay here than to go offshore from time to time. what i will do as president is make sure it's more attractive to come to america again. this is the way we're going to create jobs in this country. it's not by trickle down government saying we are going to take more money from people, hire more government workers, raise more taxes, put in place more regulations. trickle-down government has never worked here or anywhere. i want to make america the most attractive place in the world for entrepreneurs, for small business, for big business to invest and grow in america. now, we're going to have to make sure that as we trade with other nations that they play by the rules and china hasn't. one of the ways they don't play by the rules is artificially holding down the value of their currency because if they put the value of their currency low that means the prices of their goods are low and that makes them advantageous in the marketplace. we lose sales and manufacturers

in the u.s. can't compete. china has been a currency manipulator for years and years and years and the president has a regular opportunity to label them as a currency manipulator but refuses to do so. on day one, i will label china a currency manipulator which will allow me as president to be able to put in place if necessary tariffs where i believe they are taking unfair advantage of our manufacturers so we're going to make sure that people we trade with around the world play by the rules but let me not just stop there. don't forget, what's key to bringing jobs back here is not just finding someone else to punish -- and i'm going to be strict with people whom we trade with to make sure they follow the law and play by the rules -- but it's also to make america the most attractive place in the world for businesses of all kinds. that's why i want to bring down the tax rates on small employers, big employers, so they want to be here. canada's tax rate on companies

is now 15%. ours is 35% so if you're starting a business, where would you rather start it? we have to be competitive if we're going to create more jobs here. regulations have quadrupled -- the rate of regulations have quadrupled under this president. i talk to small businesses across the country, they say we feel like we are under attack from our own government. i want to see that regulators small businesses, not crush it and there's no question that obama care has been an extraordinary deterrent to enterprises of all kinds, hiring people. if we have more people hired, if we get back manufacturing jobs, if we get back all kinds of jobs in this country, you'll see rising incomes again. the reason incomes are down is because unemployment is so high. i know what it takes to get this to happen and my plan will do that and one part of it is to make sure we keep china playing by the rules. by the rules. >>